Trump says he and Putin made ‘great progress’ toward a deal, will call Zelensky and NATO leaders

Anchorage (Alaska), Aug 16 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin “made some headway” and “great progress” in their bilateral meeting, but added that “there’s no deal until there’s a deal”.

“I will call up NATO in a little while. I will call up the various people that I think are appropriate. And I’ll, of course, call up President (Volodymyr) Zelensky and tell him about today’s meeting. It’s ultimately up to them,” Trump said after Friday’s summit in Anchorage, Alaska, CNN reported.

“We had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to,” the US President said, adding, “We didn’t get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there.”

Trump added that Ukraine would have to “agree” with what Secretary of State Marco Rubio, special envoy Steve Witkoff and others in his administration discussed with Putin on Friday, though he did not delve into specifics on any framework for a deal.

Trump and Putin took no questions after their statements.

Putin kicked of remarks and spoke for about eight minutes.

Trump, who is known for typically longer and at times free-wheeling news conferences, only spoke for about four minutes.

“I’m going to start making a few phone calls and tell them what happened,” Trump said.

Putin began remarks at the press briefing by acknowledging that US-Russia relations have suffered in recent years. Usually when an American President hosts a foreign counterpart, a joint news conference would begin with remarks from the US leader followed by his guest.

Putin said the primary causes of the war must be eliminated for the war in Ukraine to end.

The Russian leader also told Ukrainian and European leaders not to interfere with “the emerging progress”.

Negotiations between Putin and Trump were held in a “respectful, constructive and mutually respectful atmosphere,” Putin said.

Putin said he agrees that the security of Ukraine should be ensured.

He also claimed at one point that the war in Ukraine would not have happened had Trump been President in 2022.

Trump said he has various calls to make following the summit — some of which include calls to NATO, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other appropriate officials.

Trump has long claimed that he would have averted the full-scale conflict that broke out during Joe Biden’s administration when Russia invaded Ukraine.

On Friday, Putin said that Trump’s claim was correct – a position he has stated before.

Putin said that in 2022 he had tried to convince Biden to avoid allowing the situation to progress to a point in which “serious consequences in the form of military actions could occur”.

“President Trump and I established a very good, businesslike and trusting contact. And I have every reason to believe that by moving along this path, we can reach – and the sooner, the better – the end of the conflict in Ukraine,” the Russian President added.

During the press conference in Anchorage, Alaska, Putin told Ukrainian and European leaders not to interfere.

“We expect that Kyiv and European capitals will perceive all this in a constructive manner and will not create any obstacles, will not make attempts to disrupt the emerging progress through provocations and behind-the-scenes intrigues,” he said.

“The situation in Ukraine has to do with the fundamental threats to our security,” Putin said during a press conference on Friday in Alaska.

While Russia is interested in putting an end to what’s happening in Ukraine, Putin said “we’re convinced that in order to make the settlement lasting and long term, we need to eliminate all the primary roots, primary causes of that conflict”.

“To consider all legitimate concerns of Russia and to reinstate a just balance of security in Europe and in the world on the whole. And I agree with President Trump, as he has (said) today, that naturally, the security of Ukraine should be ensured as well,” he added.

“Naturally, we are prepared to work on that I would like to hope that the agreement that we’ve reached together will help us bring closer to that goal and will pave the path towards peace in Ukraine,” Putin said.

Putin has floated a different location for his next meeting with President Donald Trump in Moscow.

Putin’s suggestion that a subsequent summit take place in the Russian capital — a request he made in English — prompted an ambivalent reaction from Trump.

The American President acknowledged that agreeing to that proposal would be highly controversial, but he didn’t completely shut the door to it.

“That’s an interesting one, I’ll get a little heat on that one,” Trump said.

“But I could see it possibly happening.”

US President Donald Trump says he’s “always had a fantastic relationship with President (Vladimir) Putin” but that it was impeded by investigations during his first term into Moscow’s interference into the 2016 US election.

“We had many, many tough meetings, good meetings,” Trump said during a joint news conference.

“We were interfered with by the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. I’ve made it a little bit tougher to deal with, but he understood it,” Trump said.

Earlier, the two Presidents announced a breakthrough after three hours of talks on Ukraine in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday.

Neither leader gave any details of the agreement or say if there was going to be ceasefire.

Going into the summit, Trump said that he will not be negotiating on behalf of Ukraine, and it was up to Zelensky to make a deal.

The two Presidents did not take questions from reporters.

Putin said, “We have to amend the situation to move on from confrontation to dialogue.”

“However much strange it may sound in these conditions, we (Russia and Ukraine) have the same roots and everything that’s happening is a tragedy for us and a terrible wound,” he said.

“Therefore, the country is sincerely interested in putting an end to it.”

Instead of the planned three phases of the summit starting with a one-on-one meeting, they went straight into the second phase with Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, Defence Minister Andrei Belousoy, and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov participating.

It did not appear that the third phase of a luncheon meeting with more officials was taking place.

Trump welcomed Putin on a red carpet and they talked in a friendly manner as they entered a limousine and continued their conversation.

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